Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-04
, TALK WITH NIC0LAY.
,asnts Kst IEclud"d in In" Lincoln
1EistOry-aOW "UDcia ABB"
Bore Himself
D0'i'y 70 Receptions at the white
House.

LEXINGTON, D. c., DEC. 2-The two
IAN authors whose work at this
aI'- aSt Is attracting most attention are
Do ,5.by John B. Nicclay and John Hay
neople dissent from the conclusions
SVI, .r,iys az Snd remonstrate against the
~ .,-.frs they draw, but it will not be
:.s that they are furnishing to the
a'-.rrvs I, most valuable pages. Both Of
me men live in Washington, where the
70 g. n TIT. Lincoln eliminated, and
a. thgv are writing their historical BIZ
81 s55.''5ec.urred TO me this week that they
M os wiling TO give letter writer
interesting points about Mr. Lin
~. W -ybich would not properly and rs
81. .rIg fi1d place in . grave record of mis-
W u ami went around the corUer and
~ ~ an Colonel NiColAy to this end. He
c. Co. in the house which he recently
l., w. on B street, a substantial and
..sSr-fi5rtsble brick building, approached
g os.ons running up the front parallel
9Th tie Sidewalk.
Hound the Colonel in his spacious IL
,.,rg workshop on the second f )or, sur
.,11sed by manuscript, but not suomerg-
y f7r there was metaodicsl derange-
nj in the grouping that indicated that
..ngs were in their place. The historian
g -oybs lust about IS much as he did
z. twenty-five years ago-ssy 12O-Snd,
.songh his abundant beard, hair aud eye
lowe ere now iron-gray, be has the same
Isen eve, sharp face, 1.-THE, straight form
nd alert movements that he had when IN
Tsr time he used to appear al the front
8 soor of the Sens e, aud the proceedings
Tsre interrupted with the ringing an
,o5ncement: ga message from the
President Of the Uuited States"
Ycolsy is German, born on the west
8 b.rk Of the beautiful Rhine, between
W,Vepce and Strsssburg. His father, &
q German peasant, owning 8 few acres Of
& Bsysrisn sod, sold out in the hard year OF
IgsT snd brought his five children to this
4 rouDtry, the Youngest, John, being then
.lsd Of FIVE. They settled in Cincinnati,
j Whence. after time, they moved to In
3 A,ns. then to Missouri, and last to ILL.,
nois. Here the father died, and young
Ncolsy st fourteen WSs thrown on his
q eWn strength and skill for G living. He
served & year IN country store at 81 a
nsptb, then secured the position of dia-
8 bdcsl adjunct in d printing office. He
q want first TO the broom, then to the
i IO.er, then TO the case, then 60 the desc,
4 snI, beginning as "devil," became editor
4 udproDrietor. Afterwsrd, while reading
bg, he became 8 clerk in the office Of
4 Secretary of Stste Of Illinois, and there, in
i lS57, among the politicians and story
8 glefs gathered around the roaring log
q fle, be first made the acquaintance Of
Abraham Lincoln.
8 There, too, without q suspicion of
! LiacOln's coming fame, he began that
very year to make scrap BOOKS contain
! ing an authentic record of the growth Of
events of which the tall, gsunt, popular
hTyer WAS soon to be the central figure.
8 Colonel NicOl8y took from a shelf and
3 showed me some CT these thirty year old
scrap books, which he now finds indis.
s penssble. "Hsy and [ made collections
& for scrap books, also," said he, sail the
tine that we were in the White House,
md he produced one of these marked
8 upon the back "Vol. XXXVIII"
told the Colonel that l had been try
8 Ing in vain to ind out from the text
Fhich chapters he and Hay wrote re.
spectively. He laughed and said it was
conundrum hardly worth guessing;
s1d he had no objection to telling me
8 laN they did not work on the same
casp.er but wrote different parts of the
ooOE, one sometimes writing several
GspteTs consecutively.
I "Ths first time l saw Mr.. Lincoln, -
sid Mr., NicoIay, twas in Pittsfeld, ILL.,,
where IVES editing psper in 1856
IAeve wss TO De q campaign rally there,
Md Lincoln and Trumbull met on the
Sidewalk snd embraced each other
warmly. why, Trumbull, you here?' said
Lincoln, Why, Lincoln, you here?' re.
8 pOnded the Senator, for the fact that
oeY were to speak for Fremont that night
Ngetaer was unknown to both. After
3 SsfdS, around the stove in the office Of
secretary Of state, where was clerk fol
eaf years, Lincoln was familiar pres
sce snd always the center Of the group"
j laSked Colonel Nicolay about the char.
q NteI OF Mr.. Lincoln's stories.
There is an erroneous notion Sbroad,"
Eald, "that Mr.. Lincolnfs stories were
Agely OF sort that could not be re-
sSael In the presence of ladies. The
supple fsct is that he was remarkable for
.aO characteristics in this connection
5N he sptRess of his stories and for his
IsNStlc power in telling them. He did
IVY tel story for It's own sake, but be-
H0ss It illustrated some immediate point
81 Ne situation. He never dragged in q
AOi?, out used it as an elective instru-
-yot OF expression"
how came you to be the Presidents
q Ssletary?" asked.
4 ~ VAS st the Chicago convention, !"
Au Colonel Nicnlay. "and when Lincoln
W. an nominated l was ambitious to write
1csnpsign biography. 1 was greatly
@ppointed when failed to
- The Job, and it was given
young fellow from Ohio
,le ". D. Howells, whom had never
aofe heard Of We have all heard OF
- since. l was regretting my bad
81 ~ Gay or two after TO Mr.. ButleT, 8
~use friend of Lincoln's when he inter-
81 .Sgsd me with: Hush That's OF nc
~tqaence. You are to be private sec
q aY'' That's the way it came about
81 Ouflng the campaign l served alone
,.sSfetarv, but after the election bust.
snd letters so accumulated that JohT
=! vas added to the staff. Hay hsd
s, Ss.lssted for college in the town where
q , 49, newspaper four yesrs before
B We there had became acquainted
aa graduated stree that and now re.
sslsa to Springfield to study law Will
q g1Sunguished uncle, Milton Hay"
t,,! noW did Mr.. Lincoln bear himself
'TaI I3g the campaigu?"
or,. ne was always q self poised man
s..s and equsble in temper, seldom
s,ly elsted or much depressed. III
h,S aot worried about the campaign, ant